It really is not advised to do IUI with fresh sperm bcause of the risk of infection. I have never heard of washing it at home. I would just do an IVI/ICI with a needless syringe. No catheters. Scroll through the How Did You (DW/DP) Get Pregnant Thread for more ideas. Basically just point the syringe at (but not IN) your cervix and you'll be fine. I guess I would wonder why you want to bother with IUI if you have fresh? One of the reasons that IUI is done is because frozen samples can have such a small quantity (it's like a thimble full). This is not an issue wih fresh, you'll have plenty of supply. Also, all of that seminal fluid is a good thing. On a fresh sperm insem, the seminal fluid helps keep the boys alive longer, and they actually can "time-release" thmselves so that you cover a longer period of fertility. Washing all that off cuts thier life span. I would say keep it all in tact, put it in the vagina, and let the swimmers do their thing.

For deposit vessels I've heard of a mason jar in a paper bag. Doesn't have to be anything fancy but you do want to keep it shielded from light as much as possible. Sperm live longer in darkness.

Good luck!

My wife (30) and I (32) have been legally married since 2006. We are proud queer mamas to baby W, born 10/10/2013.

Hi all, DW and I will be inseminating (me) next week with our family doctor. This will be our first time, and it will be unmedicated, with anonymous frozen sperm.

Right now I'm just waiting to ovulate. I'm using LH sticks and have been charting my BBT. In previous months, I was ovulating on day 26, then last month I ovulated on day 20, so my ovulation is somewhat unpredictable. This cycle, I have had a nasty flu for the first two weeks of my cycle, so I'm worried I might now ovulate or that the timing is going to be waaaay off.

Anyway, sending all of you baby dust! I plan on being on here regularly, now that we're starting this process.

What a helpful thread! This information is still so useful. My partner and I knew we were going to start trying at home, but now it's really sneaking up. Our year-long membership with our cryobank is done this Friday, so we need to order within the next few days to avoid forfeiting the free vial we earned earlier in the year.
Now it's a scramble to make sure we have what we need for when I ovulate in a couple weeks.

Very helpful resources in here. Thanks so much!

Btw, we need our at home ICI "kit" to use with frozen vials, so any wisdom or advice you have to pass on will be greatly appreciated. <3
Love and baby dust to you all!

lovestreet - when you talk to your bank, ask them whether they can include needless syringes in your shipment. Most banks do, mine was free of charge but even if they charged you I bet it would be cheap. Even if you are doing just one insem, make sure you get at least two syringes in case the first one you open is a dud. Out of our three at-home insems, we did get one bad syringe and thank goodness we had a back-up.

If you are just doing ICI with a syringe in the vagina, then you don't need a catheter.

Other things we always had on hand for the insems:

A pair of thin gloves for removing the vial from the tank. It will be super cold at first, but it is also really small so you want something thin enough that you can handle it easily. I think DW used a pair of liner gloves for running in cold weather.

Also, we shut off the lights because sperm lives longer in darkness. So, for opening the tank and handling the vial, DW used a hiker's headlamp on the low setting. But if you didn't have one of those you could use any dim light or flashlight.

We always cleared off a small nightstand in our bedroom and covered it with paper towel so DW had a clean surface to use for filling the syringe and organizing the "supplies". We also made sure to shut off our phones and take care of the pets (dog went out to pee and got a chew toy to keep him occupied, etc) before we got started so that there would be no interruptions.

Good luck and ask any questions as needed!!

My wife (30) and I (32) have been legally married since 2006. We are proud queer mamas to baby W, born 10/10/2013.

Ooh! One more thing. If you haven't actually picked out your sperm yet, I would suggest that you consider buying it raw rather than washed. This is only if you are NOT doing IUI with a catheter. But when you're just using a syringe in the vagina, there is no danger in raw sperm, and it actually helps them live longer. It is only when you start threading a catheter through the cervix that washed vials become necessary. We never used catheters at home, and our BFP came with raw frozen sperm and just the syringe.

My wife (30) and I (32) have been legally married since 2006. We are proud queer mamas to baby W, born 10/10/2013.

Thanks for the information, Sphinxy, and I wish I had read your note before we picked up the tank yesterday, then I would've asked the bank for a couple syringes...

We are planning to do an IUI, so we did get a washed vial.

And thank you for the tips about the room! I wouldn't have known about the dark, and I probably would've thought of the "calm" stuff too late. Like as a cat was jumping up on the bed with us...

We plan to "test" the equipment a bit first -- use the speculum, find the cervix, just so DP can get the lay of the land. When we had the insems at the clinic, she watched a couple of them, so she's familiar, just hasn't done it on her own, of course.

I think the only concern I can think of right now is getting the liquid from the vial and up into the syringe. Is it tricky? What's the best way to get it all?

lovestreet I just asked DW and she said it was not difficult at all to fill the syringe. She tilted the vial just a little to try to suction from the lowest corner in an effort to get it all. She knew how many CCs we were supposed to have in the vial, so she would check the measurement line on the syringe in low light to make sure she got it all. But, again, she said it was pretty easy to fill, the syringes have good suction.

My wife (30) and I (32) have been legally married since 2006. We are proud queer mamas to baby W, born 10/10/2013.

The lowest part of our vial was the bottom. We sucked it up with the cath on to fill the cath, too. Then the air that was in the cath will be in the top of the syringe and push out all the sperm. It's good that she's seen them performed, my DP almost puked. Lol.

I am not doing home IUIs but I have assisted my doc at the office in her preparation. The transfer to the catheter is much easier than for a home IVI where we had to empty the vial into a container first to then suck it up again. The cath is so small it fits perfectly right into the vial. so she just puts the end of the cath in while holding the vial upright and sucks it up. The space of the syringe isn't really needed much because lots of the sperm stays in the cath. (We use 1ccl syringes for 0,5ccl sperm) She also pulls up a bit of air at the end to prevent leaking from the tip when she jiggles it into the cervix.

Lindsey W, did you also use that MedVet site for your speculum and syringes? It's really weird looking on that site, because I'm not entirely sure if the speculums are for humans or animals. ;-) I mean, I know what the human ones look like, but still... On the site there isn't a lot of description on the items.

Sphinxy, thanks for the response about the syringe. I mentioned that to DP, and she was all, "Oh yeah, I've read about that and the syringe just sucks it up." So apparently I need to catch up! ;-)

Seraf, you made me laugh out loud!! DP almost puked, lol!! I was picturing it, and I thought, that could really put a damper on things... But also, that's why I'm thinking my DP and I need a couple of trial runs with the speculum. Seriously, I've never put a speculum in anyone, and I know she hasn't. I've only experienced OBs and nurses at the clinic. So someone who is, ahem, less-than-skilled sticking one of those in me is going to be a rude awakening! If we get a little practice in, first, I think it will help.

LOL about the puking/nausea, etc. I think it was actually for the best that our first insem at home was a last minute decision due to Hurricane Sandy arriving and making it impossible for us to go to the clinic. DW had previously expressed a "no f*ing way" attitude about handling the sperm herself, but with the storm upon us and a positive OPK, there was no time for her to psych herself out of it. She was our only hope, so I just looked at her and said "You have to do this." And she was a total pro.

Good Luck!!!

My wife (30) and I (32) have been legally married since 2006. We are proud queer mamas to baby W, born 10/10/2013.

lovestreet- you can also put the speculum in yourself if you feel more comfortable. Just point the handle up instead of down. You are less likely to hurt yourself if you can feel it. Just practice with the adjustments before you put it in. There are 2 ways to adjust it that can be a little tricky sometimes. Don't close it all the way before you pull it out because you may clamp it down on your cervix and that would not feel good. Close it a little and slide it part way out and close it more. Good Vibrations also sells speculums that are definitely for humans. Good luck!

Married to a wonderful woman since 2010. Baby boy C arrived in June 2013!

We had some equipment from when we conceived our first DS. The speculum and syringes were left over from that so I can't remember exactly where I got the syringes (but I'm sure they'd be fine through the medvet site since they're standard for both humans and animals). The speculum, I believe we got on Amazon.com. We went with stainless so that we'd have it for both pregnancies (since we planned to have more than one).

lovestreet- you can also put the speculum in yourself if you feel more comfortable. Just point the handle up instead of down. You are less likely to hurt yourself if you can feel it. Just practice with the adjustments before you put it in. There are 2 ways to adjust it that can be a little tricky sometimes. Don't close it all the way before you pull it out because you may clamp it down on your cervix and that would not feel good. Close it a little and slide it part way out and close it more. Good Vibrations also sells speculums that are definitely for humans. Good luck!